Recoil-cushion for gun-carriages



(No Model.)

B. HILL.

REGOIL CUSHION FOR GUN OARRIAGES. No. 378,814. Patented Feb. 21, 1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EBENEZER HILL, OF SOUTH NORVVALK, CONNECTICUT.

RECOlL-CUSHION FOR GUN-CARRIAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,314, dated February21, 1888.

Application filed August 1, 1887.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EBENEZER HILL, of South Norwalk, in the county ofFairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a newlmprovement inthe Method of Forming Recoil- Cushions for Gun-Carriages; and I dohereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanyingdrawing, and the letters of reference marked thereon, to bea full,clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawingconstitutes part of this specifica tion, and represents a longitudinalsectional side view of a gun-carriage, the section being centrallythrough the air-cylinder.

This invention relates to an improvement in the cushions which arearranged to resist the recoil of guns in the larger class.

Under the usual arrangement of this class of carriages a portion of the,carriage is hung upon a pivot at one end and supported upon concentrictracks. This first part of the carriage forms guides upon which thesecond or upper part of the carriage is arranged, so that the saidsecond part may move toward and from the center of motion of thefirstpart, the gun being supported on the said second or upper part ofthe carriage. This is a common construction of carriage represented inthe drawing.

A is the lower portion of a carriage, which is hung upon a pivot, a, atone end'and supported on tracks B B, so that it may oscillate in ahorizontal plane, with the said pivot a as its center of motion.

Upon the part B of the carriage the upper or gun supporting part, C, isarranged, so as to slide on the carriage toward and from its pivot. Thesecond or upper part, C, of the carriage carries the gun D, supportedthereon by trunnions E, in the usual manner.

To resist the recoil in this class of carriages a cylinder, F, has beenarranged on the part A of the carriage, with a piston, G, therein, fromwhich a rod, H, extends forward and is secured to the upper part, C, ofthe carriage, the piston and rod being in a plane parallel with theplane of movement of the said second part 0. The cylinder F, beingsupplied with compressed air, forms a cushion to aid in resisting therecoil upon the discharge of the gun.

The object of my invention is to increase the power of the cushion; andit consists in producing an explosionwithin the cushion cylinder at thetime of the discharge of the gun, which explosion acts through thepiston in the opposite direction to the recoil of the gun, therebygreatly increasing the power of resistance of the cushion. To producesuch an explosion, the cylinder F is constructed with acartridge-chamber, I, opening into the cylinder, the rear or breech endof the chamber being closed by a plug, J. Any suitable breech-closingmechanism will answer the pur pose. The breech of the chamber I beingopen, a cartridge, K, is introduced therein and the breech closed. Thecylinder is then charged with compressed air in the usual manner. As ameans for exploding the cartridge K, electrical wires 1) d communicatewith the cartridge-chamber, so that an electric spark may becommunicated to the cartridge in the chamber. At the instant ofvdischarging the gun the cartridge K is exploded, delivering its forceinto the cylinder and against the piston simultaneously with thedischarge of the gun. By this explosion the pressurein the cylinderbecomes instantlyincreased to a very great extent, and to that extentthe resistingpower of the cushion is increased.

The cartridge may be prepared with varying grades of powder, in a commonand wellknown manner, so as to make the complete explosion of thecartridge K instantaneous or prolonged.

The recoil-resisting explosion may be otherwise producedsay as byapplying to the cylinder a chamber, L, with which the tube M, throughwhich air is forced into the cylinder, communicates, so that airsupplied to the cylinder will pass through the said chamber.

The chamber L may be charged with suitable hydrocarbon, which the airpassing into the cylinder will take up, so that the cylinder will becharged with a highly-infiammable gas. The spark for explosion maybecommunicated directly to the cylinder, as indicated by broken lines, tocause the gas to explode, and such explosion of the gas will greatlyincrease the resisting-power of the cushion.

piston, is a well known expedient to resist re-' coil, and I make noclaim, broadly, thereto, the essential feature of my invention being toproduce an explosion in the recoil-cushion cylinder at the time the gunis discharged.

I make no claim in this application for irnprovement in the gun-carriageitself, as that:2o will cormtitute the subject of an independent;application. 1

I claim 5 In a gun-carriage having as a part of it a chamber adapted toact as a cushion to resist 2 5 recoil, the method of increasing theresisting force of said cnshiomwhich consists in producing an explosi'onin said chamber concurrent with the discharge of the gun, substantiallyas he described.

EBENEZER l'dILL.

Witnesses: S. D. VVILDMAN,

E. WILDMAN.

